


Unfriendly Skies

by Rinzler



Series: Retellings [4]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: M/M, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 10:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2648990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinzler/pseuds/Rinzler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A retelling of Season 1, Episode 9 from Greg's point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unfriendly Skies

Greg is in the middle of one of the larger labs, placing the victim's clothes on a mannequin when he sees Nick striding down the main hallway, flipping through a case file. Greg tilts his head and squints, and the numbers on the file resolve into something with 6AA-73... maybe a ten? Greg glances down at the file sitting on his desk and does a small fist pump. 6AA-73-108 is the case he's working- something about a dead guy on a plane- and with any luck, Nick is stopping by to check on how evidence processing is going.

He ducks behind the mannequin and gives his hair and clothes a quick pat-down to make sure they still look as good as when he walked into the lab half an hour ago, and then resumes fiddling with the suspect's leather jacket just as the door to the lab swings open and the music he has playing is temporarily drowned out by the noise from the hallway.

 “What've you got?”

Nick's voice echoes around in the enclosed space and he swings the door shut and steps forward. Greg grins to himself. Time to put on a show and display his genius. As usual. He glances up at Nick and moves to the mannequin's left side to make room for Nick, who stops at the mannequin's right shoulder. “Well, what you've got here is a nice Bordeaux and a Starbucks blend,” he says, flipping the lapels of the jacket outwards a little to show Nick with a smile. “No blood, no saliva,” he continues, stepping back and tucking his hands into his pockets.

Nick sighs and starts to pace around the mannequin. “What about prints?” He asks, stopping at the mannequin's back and looking at Greg over its left shoulder.

“Oh, suede leather is a tough gig,” Greg admits, glancing down and trying not to wince as he realizes that he might not be able to keep Nick here if he can't get anything to analyze. “It's too porous.”

Suddenly Nick is leans way closer to and starts frowning at the back of the suede jacket, eyes scrunched up in concentration and flicking from the base of the jacket to the top. “Hey...” He looks down and starts flipping through the file he's holding at the same time Greg walks around the mannequin to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Nick and try and see what the CSI has spotted. “Are you loosing your touch there, Einstein?”

Nick's voice sounds a little surprised, and Greg looks at him, mouth hanging open slightly, wondering what the hell Nick noticed. Nick looks back down and his file.

“Coroner's photos of the dead guy's back,” Nick says, pulling one of the larger ones out of the file and holding it up. “Multiple shoe-shaped bruises...” he trails off as he glances from the photo to the jacket. “Those are definitely shoe prints,” Nick says with certainty after a moment's pause, leaning away from the mannequin and towards Greg, staring at him.

Greg nods awkwardly and swallows. “Yeah,” he says, thankful his voice doesn't crack over the fact that Nick is now so close he can smell the other man's cologne and _god,_ does he want to kiss Nick. “Looks like somebody stomped on your dead guy.”

He leans a bit further away from Nick and takes a deep breath that isn't cologne-scented as Nick looks back at the jacket to keep studying it. God, does he need to get his act together. He can't keep fighting off the urge to jump Nick every time the other man gets close, and he can't afford to pay too much attention to how Nick smells lest he start obsessing over yet another detail about the other man.

“So,” says Nick, and as Greg turns to look at him he smiles, one of those bright sunshine ones that lights up his whole face, “you need any help analyzing this?” and Greg is normally very protective of the evidence he's given, but not tonight.

 _God, yes, please spend more time with me_ _alone in this lab together,_ _you gorgeous man,_ Greg thinks with an internal happy dance.

“Yeah, sure, okay,” he says. “Gloves are on that table over there.”

Three minutes later Nick tries to surreptitiously switch the radio from hard rock to country. Greg notices, but he pretends he's too wrapped up in processing the shoe-prints to care lets Nick change the channel anyway. It's a small price to pay if it means Nick will occasionally hum along to whatever comes on with a smile on his face.


End file.
